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Is Monica Seles’s 1989-1993 the greatest peak in the history of women’s tennis?

By Myre Aberdan

Monica Seles, the US Open champion in 1991 and '92, videotapes Gabriela Sabatini, the 1990 champion, during a gathering of 40 former US Open champions who helped dedicate the new Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center at the US Open 25 August. AFP PHOTO Jon LEVY (Photo by HENNY RAY ABRAMS / AFP) (Photo credit should read HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP via Getty Images)
Monica Seles, the US Open champion in 1991 and '92, videotapes Gabriela Sabatini, the 1990 champion, during a gathering of 40 former US Open champions who helped dedicate the new Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center at the US Open 25 August. AFP PHOTO Jon LEVY (Photo by HENNY RAY ABRAMS / AFP) (Photo credit should read HENNY RAY ABRAMS/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Monica Seles is one of the best players to ever pick up a tennis racquet, despite her career being destroyed while she was in her prime. Winning 9 grand slam titles, 8 of them as a teenager, Monica Seles was, as a teenager, already halfway to the tally of the then leader in grand slams, Martina Navratilova. However, a freak stabbing in her 4th season on tour (1993) led to the end of one of sports most remarkable runs. Seles in consecutive seasons was the year end world number 1 (1991 and1992). In her 3rd full year on tour, she finished as the 2nd ranked player in the world. In her 4th season on tour (1992), she was 1 match short of completing the calendar grand slam by 18.

In Monica Seles’s first 4 seasons, she won 231 matches, and finished with 30 titles at 19.

Monica Seles’s 1991 was equally impressive. Winning the Australian Open, French Open, and US Open as an 18 year old, her legacy was starting to become a bit of a joke, as truly no player in the history of the game had been been able to pull those kind of numbers.

Having won 9 titles the year she turned 17, 10 titles the year she turned 18, and another 10 titles the year she turned 19, Monica Seles was unmatched in every sense of the word.

Seles boasted 63 top ten wins as a teenager, which included 9 top 10 wins at 16 years of age, 16 top ten wins at age 17, 22 top 10 wins at 18 , and 5 top 10 wins in 1993. She was on a roll even in 1993, winning 3 titles and making a 4th final, before she suffered that horrific stabbing in April of 1993.

At the rate she was going, she would have had 18 slams by 23 years of age. Perhaps she would have been the first women’s player to win 30 grand slam finals. However hypothetical these analogies may be, there is no denying that Monica Seles was on an unprecedented.

So, the questions stands, is Monica Seles’s peak the great peak in the history of women’s tennis?

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